PhD course in risk, uncertainty
and decision making
The aim of the course is to give a deeper understanding of the theoretical
perspectives and methods in risk research within different disciplines, and tools
for interdisciplinary risk research. The course contains lectures and seminars.
The lectures will cover different theoretical perspectives within different
disciplines. The participants will in seminars get a chance to collaborate on
questions requiring an interdisciplinary approach.
Target group: Graduate students from different disciplines
Extent: 7.5 credits
The course has two physical meetings:

October 13-14th in Lund (hosted by LUCRAM, Lund University), starts 9.00 the 13th, ends
15.00 the 14th
 November 13-16th in Gothenburg (hosted by the School of Business, Economics and Law,
Gothenburg University), starts 15.00 the 13th, ends 12.00 16th
Participants are expected to prepare in advance to the meetings by reading the assigned
literature. The course is examined through attendance of the physical meetings and a completed
paper where at least two themes of the course is discussed in relation to the participants PhD
subject or field of interest.
It is possible to attend only one of the meetings and then receive a lower credit for the course.
The second meeting includes the second Nordic risk conference held in November 14-15th 2016.
As course participant you have two options: (1) To send in an abstract to the conference for an
oral presentation Deadline August 29th. If accepted the participant should pay the conference fee
to the conference organisers. The conference fee is 1000 SEK for PhD and master students (and
1500 SEK otherwise). (2) To participate in the conference without giving any oral presentation. If
so, the course will compensate the conference fee after a completed course.
This course is given as part of the research school ClimBECO and LUCID and is open for anyone
to attend. The number of places is limited.
Last date to apply is September 13th
Register here
Notification of acceptance will be given on September 15th.
The course will be given in English
Cost: The conference fee to attend the Nordic Chapter SRA conference
Course schedule
Lund – October
Thursday 13
9.30 to 12.00 Henrik Tehler: Introduction to risk assessment
13.00 to 14.00 Henrik Hassel: Quantitative descriptions of risk
14.30 to 16.00 Annika Wallin: Individual decision making
16.00 to 17.00 Ullrika Sahlin: Probability
Friday 14
9 to 10.30 Johannes Persson: Risk philosophy
11 to 12 Frederik Lundtofte: Risk in an economist’s perspective
13 to 15 Ullrika Sahlin and others: Mind the risk – a case-study on planning under risk and
uncertainty
Göteborg – November
Sunday 13
14 to 15 Åsa Knaggård: Policy-making under risk and uncertainty
15 to 17 Ragnar Lofstedt: Risk communication in the 21st century
18 to 20 Nick Pidgeon: Advances in risk communication
Monday 14
9.30 to 18 Risk conference and group discussions
Tuesday 15
9 to 13 Risk conference
14.30 to 15.30 Tomas Bergström: Ticks – case-study on risk perception and risk communication
16 to 17 Daniel Slunge: Ticks – case-study on risk perception and risk communication
Wednesday 16
9 to 10 Daniel Slunge: Ticks – case-study on risk perception and risk communication
10.30 to 12 Ullrika Sahlin: Uncertainty
Literature list: to come
For more info – contact the course directors: Åsa Knaggård (LU), Ullrika Sahlin (LU) och Daniel
Slunge (GU).